Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar shot a qualification score of 1168 to qualify at the fourth spot for the final - 392 in kneeling position, 397 in prone and 379 in standing.
Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar shot a qualification score of 1168 to qualify at the fourth spot for the final - 392 in kneeling position, 397 in prone and 379 in standing.
It was shooting balloons at the Navgarh fair in Madhya Pradesh as a child that ignited the love for the sport in Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, who clinched a bronze medal in the men’s 50m 3 Positions at the Asian Championship in Doha to bag an Olympic quota for India.
Tomar shot a qualification score of 1168 to qualify at the fourth spot for the final – 392 in kneeling position, 397 in prone and 379 in standing.
In the final, with three shooters, two from China including world number three Zhao Zhonghao and world number nine Kim JongHun from Korea having already bagged quotas, five shooters were eligible for the three Tokyo spots on offer.
Tomar, 18, was fifth with a score of 151.7 after the kneeling series before climbing to second spot with a score of 308 after prone, only 0.6 behind leader Kim. A score of 101.6 in the standing series ensured that Tomar entered the single- shot elimination in third spot with a lead of 1.9 over Zhang Changhong of China and bagged the quota with two other shooters bowing out. Scores of 9.8, 9.6 and 9.3 meant Tomar finished third with quota in hand.
Challenging conditions
Tomar also had to face changes in weather conditions as the wind picked up during his round.
“Facing the windy conditions was the main challenge as I’m not used to that while training in Delhi or Bhopal. I had to be careful. In the final too, I was under some pressure as the quota places on offer, but once I hit some good shots, it helped me gain my rhythm,” Tomar said.
Tomar took his time and competed his round only 30 seconds prior to regulation time and Suma Shirur, the high performance coach of Junior shooting team and coach of Indian senior team, breathed a sigh of relief.
“Aishwary showed a lot of maturity today compared to an average 18-year-old shooter. It was exceptional shooting by him considering the windy conditions. The wind had reached a speed of 21 Km/hour but he took his time and showed a lot of calmness and stability to end his qualification round in regulation time and also ensuring he qualifies for the final,” says Shirur.
The medal and quota was vindication for the specialised preparation Tomar and Indian shooting coach Deepak Kumar Dubey had undertaken ahead of the Doha event.
“While the senior shooters had left for Doha earlier to train, Aishwary stayed back in Delhi since we wanted to focus on his specific training. Training with senior shooters sometimes hampers a young shooter in training. We spent three days on training for the finals format. He was also shooting with a new kit so we spend some extra hours for adjustment,” Dubey said.
“In the final too, he made a good start and at one time was in second place. I guess securing the quota eased him a bit and that was the reason for the average shots in the end.”
For the time being though, Tomar is not likely to find much time to visit the Navgrah fair in January and shoot some balloons
It was shooting balloons at the Navgarh fair in Madhya Pradesh as a child that ignited the love for the sport in Aishwary Pratap Singh Tomar, who clinched a bronze medal in the men’s 50m 3 Positions at the Asian Championship in Doha to bag an Olympic quota for India.
Tomar shot a qualification score of 1168 to qualify at the fourth spot for the final – 392 in kneeling position, 397 in prone and 379 in standing.
In the final, with three shooters, two from China including world number three Zhao Zhonghao and world number nine Kim JongHun from Korea having already bagged quotas, five shooters were eligible for the three Tokyo spots on offer.
Tomar, 18, was fifth with a score of 151.7 after the kneeling series before climbing to second spot with a score of 308 after prone, only 0.6 behind leader Kim. A score of 101.6 in the standing series ensured that Tomar entered the single- shot elimination in third spot with a lead of 1.9 over Zhang Changhong of China and bagged the quota with two other shooters bowing out. Scores of 9.8, 9.6 and 9.3 meant Tomar finished third with quota in hand.
Challenging conditions
Tomar also had to face changes in weather conditions as the wind picked up during his round.
“Facing the windy conditions was the main challenge as I’m not used to that while training in Delhi or Bhopal. I had to be careful. In the final too, I was under some pressure as the quota places on offer, but once I hit some good shots, it helped me gain my rhythm,” Tomar said.
Tomar took his time and competed his round only 30 seconds prior to regulation time and Suma Shirur, the high performance coach of Junior shooting team and coach of Indian senior team, breathed a sigh of relief.
“Aishwary showed a lot of maturity today compared to an average 18-year-old shooter. It was exceptional shooting by him considering the windy conditions. The wind had reached a speed of 21 Km/hour but he took his time and showed a lot of calmness and stability to end his qualification round in regulation time and also ensuring he qualifies for the final,” says Shirur.
The medal and quota was vindication for the specialised preparation Tomar and Indian shooting coach Deepak Kumar Dubey had undertaken ahead of the Doha event.
“While the senior shooters had left for Doha earlier to train, Aishwary stayed back in Delhi since we wanted to focus on his specific training. Training with senior shooters sometimes hampers a young shooter in training. We spent three days on training for the finals format. He was also shooting with a new kit so we spend some extra hours for adjustment,” Dubey said.
“In the final too, he made a good start and at one time was in second place. I guess securing the quota eased him a bit and that was the reason for the average shots in the end.”
For the time being though, Tomar is not likely to find much time to visit the Navgrah fair in January and shoot some balloons